Writing and Art by Bryan Wood
Published by Vertigo
DMZ is the best case example of a hit or miss comic--when it's good, it's brilliant stuff, but when it's bad...the less said the better. Although the most recent storyline was an improvement, Wood and company have yet to achieve the greatness of the one-shot issue "Ghosts" early in the series. In the current climate of mainstream comics, the six-part story has become a publishing neccessity: six-part stories that can be re-published and sold at mass-market booksellers are what the companies prefer, and that hasn't been great for DMZ, a comic that works best when it's narrative is densly paced, and not so long that the story begins to strain credibility. Still, bad DMZ is still better looking than good Uncanny X-Men, and less cheesy as well.
The basic idea behind DMZ is a mysterious civil war that has turned New York City into a no man's land following an aborted revolution: the people who stayed behind, and the country that's abandoned them. Throw in a young punk journalist for narrator, stir, and describe. That's the comic, month in and out. Already a hero among indie comic fans for his future-shock bible Channel Zero, Bryan Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, his regular artist, have spent the last eleven months telling the sort of stories that will probably becomes DMZ's stock in trade: Our reporter wanders around, tries to find a story and ends up learning a lesson. Someone usually dies. Sadly, Bryan hasn't included much of the brilliant design art that he's so known for, excepting the always incredible covers. For this, the comics 12th issue, Wood decided to take over all duties and produce a background/source/art book extaordinaire, an exhaustive, beautiful and intensively creative issue as full of newspaper style typeface as full page art. Each page is so laden with the talent and creativity of one of the best graphic designers working today that the dismal advertisements (a growing irritation in today's comics) are so intrusive to the intense flow of thought as to make one furious. It's incredible work, impossible to repeat or copy, and it's made for one of the most surprising issues of the year. Once again, the Vertigo line has showcased why they have the most trustworthy name in comics: because they never fails to innovate and surprise. While this is the last comic any new reader should pick up, it will eventually sit alongside Channel Zero as the one comic that every aspiring designer owns. One can now, officially, begin hoping that DMZ starts getting better again--as Wood has himself shown, it certainly has the potential to.
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